16-18 "This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person’s failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him.

6-8 Christ arrives right on time to make this happen. He didn’t, and doesn’t, wait for us to get ready. He presented himself for this sacrificial death when we were far too weak and rebellious to do anything to get ourselves ready. And even if we hadn’t been so weak, we wouldn’t have known what to do anyway. We can understand someone dying for a person worth dying for, and we can understand how someone good and noble could inspire us to selfless sacrifice. But God put his love on the line for us by offering his Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to him.

22-24 God’s loyal love couldn’t have run out,

his merciful love couldn’t have dried up.

They’re created new every morning.

How great your faithfulness!

I’m sticking with God (I say it over and over).

He’s all I’ve got left.

6-18 God makes everything come out right;

he puts victims back on their feet.

He showed Moses how he went about his work,

opened up his plans to all Israel.

God is sheer mercy and grace;

not easily angered, he’s rich in love.

He doesn’t endlessly nag and scold,

nor hold grudges forever.

He doesn’t treat us as our sins deserve,

nor pay us back in full for our wrongs.

As high as heaven is over the earth,

so strong is his love to those who fear him.

And as far as sunrise is from sunset,

he has separated us from our sins.

As parents feel for their children,

God feels for those who fear him.

He knows us inside and out,

keeps in mind that we’re made of mud.

Men and women don’t live very long;

like wildflowers they spring up and blossom,

But a storm snuffs them out just as quickly,

leaving nothing to show they were here.

God’s love, though, is ever and always,

eternally present to all who fear him,

Making everything right for them and their children

as they follow his Covenant ways

and remember to do whatever he said.

7-10 My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God. The person who refuses to love doesn’t know the first thing about God, because God is love—so you can’t know him if you don’t love. This is how God showed his love for us: God sent his only Son into the world so we might live through him. This is the kind of love we are talking about—not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they’ve done to our relationship with God.

23-26 God remembered us when we were down,

His love never quits.

Rescued us from the trampling boot,

His love never quits.

Takes care of everyone in time of need.

His love never quits.

Thank God, who did it all!

His love never quits!

16,17 Jerusalem will be told:

"Don’t be afraid.

Dear Zion,

don’t despair.

Your God is present among you,

a strong Warrior there to save you.

Happy to have you back, he’ll calm you with his love

and delight you with his songs.

* * *

9,10 "This exile is just like the days of Noah for me:

I promised then that the waters of Noah

would never again flood the earth.

I’m promising now no more anger,

no more dressing you down.

For even if the mountains walk away

and the hills fall to pieces,

My love won’t walk away from you,

my covenant commitment of peace won’t fall apart."

The God who has compassion on you says so.

2-6 This is the way God put it:

"They found grace out in the desert,

these people who survived the killing.

Israel, out looking for a place to rest,

met God out looking for them!"

God told them, "I’ve never quit loving you and never will.

Expect love, love, and more love!

And so now I’ll start over with you and build you up again,

dear virgin Israel.

You’ll resume your singing,

grabbing tambourines and joining the dance.

You’ll go back to your old work of planting vineyards

on the Samaritan hillsides,

And sit back and enjoy the fruit—

oh, how you’ll enjoy those harvests!

The time’s coming when watchmen will call out

from the hilltops of Ephraim:

‘On your feet! Let’s go to Zion,

go to meet our God!’"

* * *

1-6 It wasn’t so long ago that you were mired in that old stagnant life of sin. You let the world, which doesn’t know the first thing about living, tell you how to live. You filled your lungs with polluted unbelief, and then exhaled disobedience. We all did it, all of us doing what we felt like doing, when we felt like doing it, all of us in the same boat. It’s a wonder God didn’t lose his temper and do away with the whole lot of us. Instead, immense in mercy and with an incredible love, he embraced us. He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. He did all this on his own, with no help from us! Then he picked us up and set us down in highest heaven in company with Jesus, our Messiah.